Intermediate, upper-intermediate textbook

[Orcrist]

During my study in Japan for 3 months I finished both Genki II and 中級へ行こう in a small classroom environment. Aside from that I spoke pretty much only Japanese every day, in and outside of the classroom. Now I'm wondering which textbook I should start using next, I came across An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese, but I can't really determine wether it's too easy or not. So I was hoping someone could tell me a little more about this book, or perhaps suggest another book. I'd like a book with a decent amount of exercises (and an answer sheet). The book doesn't need to focus on listening/conversation however. It will be for selfstudy, so I'd rather avoid using a real classroom textbook. If anyone has any experiences with a decent upper-intermediate textbook, please share them!

[Sairana]

Short answer: No, I have no idea about upper-intermediate texts.

But...!

Have you considered that you might just be ready to move outside the realm of textbooks and into learning from context and experience? Not that I'm saying you definitely -are-, but I hope by the time I consider myself upper intermediate, I will have abandoned the sterile concept of textbooks and have moved onto so called "real" Japanese.

[clay]

Sairana has a good idea about learning from 'real' Japanese (by reading).

An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese is published by the same company as Genki (The Japan Times) and many people go from Genki II to An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese. I personally haven't used the books in that way, but several customers (at thejapanshop.com) have.

I've heard a few people say it was a pretty smooth transition and I haven't heard any negatives. However, the two books are not specifically designed to be used together.

[Orcrist]

Thank you for the replies!

As for learning from real life material, my lack of kanji knowledge poses somewhat of a problem. I have no trouble watching a dorama without subs, or mailing with my friends. However reading a daily column introduces so many new kanji that I find myself looking up pretty much every word that's being used since I can't read it yet. I'm working my way trough BKB at the moment, and after that will move on to Kanji in Context, but during that time I'd like to keep studying grammar aswell. That's why I'm thinking about buying yet another textbook.

[becki_kanou]

When you say you can "understand a drama without subs", what percent are you talking about?

If your grammar is good enough to understand spoken Japanese at a natural pace, and the only thing holding you back from native materials is kanji, then why not try manga? I know it gets a bad rap since most people jump into it way before they're ready for it and get confused by all the colloquialisms, but if you have a solid foundation in the spoken language it may be right for you. Also having furigana beside the kanji means that it's much easier to look up new words, and gain vocabulary.

When I was at the upper intermediate-stage I used to devour manga, especially Crayon Shin-chan, Meitantei Conan and Atashin'chi. Pick something relevant to your interests and go for it. I'm addicted to mystery novels myself, so Meitantei Conan was especially helpful to me because I learned the vocabulary I needed to move on to reading real mystery and crime novels in Japanese, like Edogawa Rampo.

[Orcrist]

When it's a drama centered around daily life relationships (Hana yori dango for example), on average I understand about 70/80% of what's being said. The only problem is vocabulary during the time I don't seem to understand what they're saying. And usually I just look up the word immediatly and can continue watching. Ofcourse, drama is more easy to understand than plain reading material due to the larger amount of context.

I read some manga while I was still in Japan, but here it will become a rather expensive method I'm afraid. However, I did completely forget about the existence of manga, I'll look into it some more. It may be just what I need untill I know enough kanji.

[richvh]

Give ゆきの物語 a try. Full furigana available, or you can read the rikaichan-friendly no furigana version. Best of all, it's free.

[Orcrist]

That looks good, I'll print it out and give it a try!

I also decided to buy the book I mentioned in my first post, just want to keep myself busy untill my Kanji knowledge is sufficient enough. Thanks everyone, for the suggestions and advice.

[bluntcrayon]

I just started to use chuukyuu kara manabu
It seems to be a pretty good transition from chuukyuu e ikou in terms of grammar points and also has some good reading sections.

After that there is jyoukyuu de manabu which is an advanced textbook. I have already bought it but havnt started to use it yet.

[ManaKnight]

That looks good, I'll print it out and give it a try!

I also decided to buy the book I mentioned in my first post, just want to keep myself busy untill my Kanji knowledge is sufficient enough. Thanks everyone, for the suggestions and advice.

I was just wondering what you thought about that book since you've had it for about 2? months now. (Don't feel like doing the math hehe.) I was also thinking about getting it but would like to hear what you thought about it first.